How Can You Develop Marketing Strategies?

An important part of marketing planning is identifying key strategic decisions that will give the firm a competitive advantage in the marketplace and achieve stated objectives. Strategy selection begins with several assumptions that marketers must make about the market. In this case of our tableware marketers, an assumption can be made that the targeted consumer segment does value high quality in expensive tableware, but the best way to communicate and demonstrate value in this product category is through appropriate distribution methods. These assumptions determine the relative emphasis given to each of the marketing mix elements and lead to the next stage of the planning process. Product quality and selective distribution will be the focus in our example.

To develop specific action plans or tactics, each element of the marketing strategy must be dissected. Here, marketers specify tactics for each aspect of the marketing mix.
Simply using different combinations of these mix variables makes a dramatic difference in marketing action programs. We take an example of a company which stresses product manufacturing design and selective distribution. It could just as easily focus on discount pricing and mass advertising. The goal is to design a marketing mix that will appeal to the target market and prove profitable, given the limitations imposed by the available resources and requirements of the marketing strategy.